"My daughter was very adamant on whatever she wanted. When she used to go to school in class four there was as sweetshop on the way and if she made up her mind to have a sweet even the shopkeeper had to relent," he said, breaking down with emotion at times.

"The same happened in her higher education and she was doing what she wanted. I remember asking her once, who are all your friends? She replied, Dad it's only my books I am friends with.

"She always wanted to be a doctor and was sure about it. That's why we from this rural place to Delhi – to give our children a better future."

The family moved from Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, to the capital in 1983.

They even sold off some of their land to fund her education when the young girl refused to compromise on her dream.

"I told her repeatedly that I could not fund her education, but she did not budge," said her father.

Fresh details of the attack emerged on Wednesday as police prepared to submit a 1000-page report to a district court.

It describes how the gang tried to run over the young student after dumping her from the bus, according to accounts published in Indian newspapers.

Her boyfriend managed to pull her to safety just in time.

However, her family disputed reports that they were due to marry.

One of her two younger brothers described the night they received a telephone call telling them his sister had been in an "accident".

"She was not scared of anyone," he said. "We could never imagine that such a fate would befall her... She must never have imagined it." He added that she loved nothing better than watching India's version of Big Brother.

"We had our share of quarrels too, and mostly over our favourite shows on television," he said. "She used to love the popular reality show Bigg Boss but she was very good in studies too." Such is the anger over the case that lawyers say they will not defend the six suspects charged with rape and murder.

And Britain has warned tourists to stay out of Delhi's city centre where protests are being held on an almost daily basis.

In an updated travel advisory, the Foreign and Commonwealth says: "You should therefore avoid the city centre until the situation becomes clearer and be careful to avoid any demonstrations, which could turn violent.